The New API Standard for Wellbore surveying: Do You Want to Contribute?

24-Mar-2016

Lodestar International creates and distributes technologically advanced drilling and completion solutions to independent oilfield service companies in
order to compete against the multinationals, and win. In today’s blog post, we will introduce groundbreaking information from our partner in education,
the ISCWSA (Industry Steering Committee on Wellbore Survey Accuracy).

David Gibson, Lodestar’s Vice President of Directional Drilling is a member of the ISCWSA Education Subcommittee. The subcommittee strives to raise awareness
within the oil and gas industry about the ISCWSA and its programs.

Currently, there is no industry standard for surveying operations. A division of ISCWSA, the OWSG (Operator Wellbore Survey Group) subcommittee, has started
an initiative to create an industry-wide mainstream guideline for operations in effort to level the playing field and raise the standard of work in
the surveying sector of the oil and gas industry. To ensure inclusiveness, the OWSG subcommittee decided the standards should be managed by API.

Let’s Break It Down

Similar to API standard threads on drill pipe, there will now be an API standard for surveying. This creates an opportunity to get involved, and be a part
of helping write the standard that the entire industry will have to adhere to in the near future.

Anyone can participate in the creation of API RP78. From operators and manufacturers to service providers, to anyone with a general interest, you are welcome
to join us. This is especially important for small service companies. Do not let your voice be silent in a room full of the majors. Every company gets
one vote. This means multi-nationals and a single kit box MWD company in Oman gets equal voting rights on the development of RP78

Our goal is to provide a framework and minimum guidance for the planning, acquisition, quality assurance, storage, and use of wellbore position data for
the well lifecycle. This includes the assessment of well objectives as they pertain to collision assessment and reserves targeting.

This recommended practice covers the effective representation of the trajectory; e.g., position measurement, trajectory calculation, rendering and presentation,
uncertainty calculation and use with respect to other wells. This recommended practice is not designed provide a method for determining
the most accurate position, only a position that is properly represented by a mathematical error model that considers both the tool type and the environment
that it was run.